This invention relates to hair dryers, and more specifically to diffusers for attenuating the air flow from hair dryers.
A hair dryer generally comprises a blower for pushing an air stream past a heating element, and a tubular output duct for collimating and delivering the hot air stream in a preferred direction. For domestic and professional use, such dryers are generally conformed in a pistol-like configuration, since centuries of technological development have determined that a pistol is a preferred format for vectoring movement toward a target. Hair dryers are employed not only to remove moisture from hair, but also to aid in styling and shaping the hair as it dries to form an esthetically pleasing result. The heated air flow may exit the dryer at a temperature of a few hundred degrees Fahrenheit. This high temperature helps to remove moisture quickly from saturated hair. However, as the hair dries the hot air blast threatens to heat the hair to such an extent that it may be damaged. Such damage may be due to removal of volatile oils from the hair, or from protein degradation within the matrix of the hair shafts themselves. Thus it is necessary to attenuate the heating effect of the dryer as drying progresses. Many hair dryers provide blower motors having more than one speed setting, and may also include means for reducing the output of the heating elements. However, the air stream remains a highly directed blast of dry, high temperature air that may have too much velocity and heat for delicate finishing and styling.
In response to these factors, there have been developed in the prior art various forms of diffusers for attenuating the hot air blast from hair dryers. Some of these devices comprise baffling structures that are removably secured to the output end of the hair dryer tube. Such devices are inconvenient to store and install, and removal of the device after use may be hazardous, due to the possibility of sustaining burns from the heated surfaces. Other arrangements include umbrella-like arrangements Ibr blocking air flow, a system that is mechanically complicated and prone to mechanical failure. Likewise, some diffusers have employed rotating vanes to partially constrict the output orifice, but the resulting effect is to increase the velocity of the air stream. The prior art indicates a lack of a reliable device for selectively diffusing the air blast of a hair dryer.